Six Lahore cops booked for kidnapping youth for Rs20m ransom
LAHORE: The Green Town police registered a case against their six officials, including in charge of the investigation wing, for allegedly kidnapping a young man, implicating him in a fake case and demanding Rs20 million ransom for his release.
The police acted when Lahore police chief Bilal Siddique Kamyana took notice of the incident on the complainant of victim Adnan’s mother Nazeeran Bibi who unveiled a horrific tale of police high-handedness.
In her complaint, she said her son Adnan and an assistant sub-inspector of Green Town police station exchanged words over some issue. She said the police official nurtured a grudge against her son and implicated him in a fabricated case, in connivance with Green Town police station investigation in charge Rehan Butt, SI Gohar and Constable Imran.
She alleged that these police officials arrested her son from College Road, took him to the police station and subjected him to severe torture.
Nazeeran Bibi said when her two sons visited the police station to meet Adnan, the accused policemen also took them into custody and thrashed them. She said they later brought her handcuffed son to her house, ransacked the property, and took away Rs140,000 cash, a motorbike, a mobile phone and other valuables, besides his son’s CNIC.
During the raid, she alleged, the policemen also attempted to take into custody her other son, adding when she and her daughter tried to stop them, the intruders hurled abuses and beat them up at gunpoint.
Next day, she said, ASI Rana Asif and a constable again forced their entry into her residence and demanded Rs20m for the release of her sons, threatening to kill them if the amount was not paid. She claimed that to save her sons, she sold the family’s car at a throwaway price and paid Rs3.5m to the policemen through her nephew, Junaid.
She lamented that despite getting the amount, the policemen again came demanding more money. She alleged the policemen also went to the landlord, who had rented out his house to her against an advance (girvi) amount, and threatened him with dire consequences if refused to give them the sum paid in advance.
She further revealed that the complainant of the FIR against her son was an informer of SI Rehan Butt.
Taking notice of Nazeeran Bibi’s complaint, the CCPO ordered an inquiry which revealed that the allegations against the policemen were true. So he ordered strict criminal proceeding against his subordinates.
The Green Town police registered an FIR against the police officials on different charges, including misuse of authority and kidnap for ransom.
Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2024